The Sudan Handbook

192 thE sudan handbook

Smaller ethnic groups and individual immigrants found themselves

in an inferior position to the large dar-owning tribes, both in terms of

rights to land (and water), and in terms of representation in the higher

levels of local administration and justice, and later political arenas. The

ensuing tensions have only been exacerbated by the alienation of land for

mechanized agriculture and oil production, leading to growing pressure

for grazing and for fertile farming land. The quest for rights to land

and water are therefore commonly pursued through demands to have

a nazir. The British also rewarded the loyalty of prominent religious or

tribal leaders by awarding them land, a policy continued by subsequent

governments. The association of land with the Native Administration

was reversed under Nimeiri’s government in 1970–71, when the acceler-

ating demand for land for agricultural production was combined with a

gradual drive since the 1950s to abolish Native Administration altogether.

The resulting Unregistered Lands Act of 1970 established government

ownership of all land not privately owned and registered, that is, all

the communal land governed primarily under customary systems. The

following year, Native Administration was abolished formally through

the People’s Local Government Act. These two measures undermined the

previously clear demarcation of tribal rights and responsibilities for land

and natural resources, opening up confusion, uncertainty and conflict,

which remain largely unresolved even today.

Traditional vs. Modern Government

The 1971 Local Government Act has been seen as the culmination of

efforts by members of the nationalist effendiya to attack the Native

Administration as colonial collaborators and relics of backward rural

life, whose stranglehold over rural communities was hindering develop-

ment and political participation. Yet the idea of a deep enmity between

Sudanese graduates and the Native Administration is in many ways

misleading. Many traditional leaders have themselves also been highly

educated and had prior experience of government-related employment, a

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors tendency encouraged by colonial administrators. The political parties of

(www.riftvalley.net).